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I hesitated for a moment, because if I was honest and told my sister exactly what I’d considered doing, she’d lose her mind. But since I’d already shared the whole situation with her and wanted her support, I had no choice but to give her the truth.
“I was thinking I could start trying to figure out what happened by going to the dog park,” I reasoned.
“Are you out of your mind?!” she shrieked.
“I have to know what happened to him, Jo,” I said softly, hoping she’d understand my need for answers. “It’s like I’ve lost him all over again.”
The silence stretched between us. There were a handful of people who knew just how difficult losing Graham had been for me. My mom, my sister, and my best friend, Tabitha, were the three people who’d stepped up to the plate to support me following Graham’s death. In the beginning, all three of them were there round the clock, staying with me when I refused to get out of bed or scouring the town with me for Henry.
Eventually, my mom and sister had to go back home, where they lived nearly two hours away. Tabitha picked up the slack in their absence. There was no question I wouldn’t have survived if it hadn’t been for the three of them.
“I know how difficult all of this has been on you, Lamise. I can’t imagine what this new information has done to your heart and your mind, but if what you are telling me is the truth, you can’t go out on some investigativemission on your own. You need to take Graham’s phone to the police and allow them to handle it.”
I couldn’t miss the tone in my sister’s voice. She was pleading with me to listen to her.
“I’m not sure I would know what to do even if I tried to do this on my own,” I replied. “If I went to that dog park, I’m not even sure who or what I’d be looking for.”
“Promise me you’re not going to go looking for trouble,” she begged.
It wasn’t hard to give her what she wanted. “I promise.”
Jolene and I talked for quite a while longer, and we went through every possible scenario. In the end, I decided to listen to her advice.
I took the phone to the police.
But before I did that, I backed it up on my computer. I refused to lose those final remaining pieces of him.
THREE
Banks
“Can I talk to you about something for a minute?”
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized just how stupid that question was. I’d just walked into work at Harper Security Ops, and my eyes immediately fell upon Avalon.
She was our receptionist, and she was almost always sitting at her desk whenever any of us walked through the door. The woman was perfect for the position, too, because there wasn’t anyone who loved people as much as Avalon did.
Having worked here for so many years, Avalon was someone we’d all looked at like a little sister. Or, well, most of us, anyway.
Damon Knight, one of the guys I worked closely with on a regular basis in the kidnap and ransom unit, was probably the only guy who didn’t view Avalon the way the rest of us did. After being such good friends for years, the two of them finally admitted their feelings to one another. The rest of uswere happy for them, even Avalon’s older brother, Magnus—another member of the kidnap and ransom unit.
As expected, Avalon perked right up in her seat, smiled at me, and answered, “Of course. What’s going on?”
That was precisely the reason why I knew my question had been stupid. I’d never known Avalon to be the kind of woman who’d ever turn down the opportunity to talk to someone face-to-face. If given the choice, she’d have preferred that over talking with someone on the phone.
Though I’d expected the physical and verbal response I received from Avalon, the tone of her voice indicated she’d been caught off guard.
That wasn’t a surprise, either.
I was a private guy, so it was almost unheard of for me to ask to have a chat. It likely served to make Avalon even more eager than she already was.
Wanting to ease her curiosity and hopefully get some answers for myself, I replied, “You talk to a lot of people, so I was wondering if you might have some advice or a recommendation for me?”
“A recommendation for what, specifically?” she countered.
I inhaled deeply and sighed. “Since I’ve started coming back to work, my mom has been watching Rhys for me. She loves it, of course. Unfortunately, back in the fall, she was supposed to have her knees replaced, and she wound up canceling the surgery after… well, you know.”
I didn’t need to offer the sordid details, because Avalon knew I was referring to Violet’s death. She confirmed that with a simple nod of her head and a sympathetic look on her face.
